I’ve learned a great deal about child care over the past 20+ years of experience babysitting, nannying, teaching, tutoring, mentoring, and helping to nurture, raise, and teach newborns through teens.
Five of these are fun and meant to be outrageous. Seven are dead serious signs that child safety is not a primary priority at a child care facility or school. Do these sound familiar? If so, your kids and you deserve better!
Your child has been taken on an unannounced field trip out of the country without your knowledge or permission.
The ABCs learned in your child’s class are: A is for Assault, B is for Battery and Bullying, and C is for Crying and Complaining.
A full-page ad and coupon for The Nit Fairies were in your parent orientation packet.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer would be tempted to come get some of the dagger-length pieces of mulch on your playground when she’s running low on wooden stakes.
The Department of Social Services (DSS) inspector for your daycare has been onsite so many times in the past six months investigating violations and complaints that they’re forcing you to give her an office at your location.
Children under the age of ten are regularly allowed to hang out in places where they are not within sight and sound of an adult.
A number of teachers and assistants who have worked at a particular company and/or at a specific location from anywhere between two years to fifty or more leave in the middle of the school year.
There’s at least one new teacher you’ve never met or heard of with your child every week while another one has mysteriously disappeared never to be seen again.
No list of children with life-threatening allergies and the medicine they take in case of emergency is posted or readily available.
There is a list of those with life-threatening allergies, but the person on staff who is driving regularly forgets to bring your child’s Epi-pen/inhaler on each off-site bus run or field trip.
A new hire whose background check hasn't been returned yet is left alone with children of any age in a classroom, outside, on a school bus, or in any place where the adult and people in her care are not visible to a current faculty member with approved background screening.
And the #
sign it might be time to find a new childcare provider…
Not a single one of the teachers/staff members onsite when you drop off or pick up can correctly identify ALL of the following:
A. your child by appearance
B. his/her full name
C. any life-threatening allergies and medications he/she has on-hand
D. The appearance and/or first and last name of a parent or another approved pick-up person.
Do you know the most important questions to ask when interviewing a person whom you’re considering leaving alone with your children for hours at a time?
If not, you're not alone. Most parents don't know all the pertinent things to ask and look for when selecting the right child care scenario for their family. Fortunately, there are many resources available to help you.
Check out this post from My Nanny Diary series for links to the best and most thorough lists of questions to ask and things to look for to find a safe, competent, caring child care provider.
